Evergreen Theatre Society shutting down after 34 years serving Calgary's arts community

Rukhsar Ali · CBC News

· Posted: May 11, 2025 7:41 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

The Evergreen Theatre Society is shutting down operations astatine the extremity of June after 34 years successful business.

The theatre radical offered subject programming successful schools crossed Alberta, arsenic good arsenic accessible, affordable assemblage spaces for art, theatre and dance.

Sean Fraser, Evergreen's enforcement director, said the radical was incapable to renew a 10-year indebtedness declaration with the Social Enterprise Fund (SEF), an Alberta-based indebtedness lender which invests successful societal enterprises and entrepreneurs.

"It's been truly disappointing," Fraser said. "Not lone due to the fact that of our space, but due to the fact that that's benignant of what's been going connected successful the arts and civilization assemblage for galore years."

Fraser said Evergreen has paid implicit $1 cardinal worthy of involvement connected its $5.5 cardinal indebtedness since 2020, but SEF has decided to propulsion their wealth retired of the project.

"It's their right. It's their wealth and that's the mode it goes," helium said.

"But due to the fact that the gathering itself isn't valued astatine the magnitude that we borrowed, they volition past really travel aft Evergreen for the equilibrium of the monies owed, which fundamentally makes Evergreen Theatre… inoperable."

In an emailed statement, SEF's manager Ryan Young said that successful the past 10 years, SEF has made "numerous efforts" to assistance Evergreen financially done 9 extensions and amendments to the archetypal indebtedness agreement.

"Despite these efforts, Evergreen was inactive incapable to conscionable its indebtedness commitments which led america to marque the hard determination to not renew the loan, which matured connected March 15, 2025," Young's connection said.

The loan, Fraser said, was meant to beryllium portion of a semipermanent program to ain a facility, wage disconnected the SEF loan, and successful turn, trust little connected authorities backing to run going guardant — but a fig of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzable that vision.

The SEF has not shared plans yet for the gathering aft June 30.

Arts groups near to find an alternate space

Evergreen offers philharmonic theatre programming to students from kindergarten to Grade 6 connected topics related to subject and the environment. 

The 24,000-square-foot assemblage arts space, located successful Calgary's northeast Mayland Heights neighbourhood, houses assorted studios, a presumption theatre and bureau spaces. 

Fraser said they person anyplace from 80 to 100 clients who presently usage the facility, and work much than 100,000 radical each year.

One of those clients is Cordelia Deano, who teaches with the Artistique Parents Association. 

"It truly sucks," she said. "I recovered the abstraction truly bully and they did a truly bully occupation of what they do, particularly providing america specified debased fees to rent retired the country for an hour. And they're beauteous rooms — the rooms are huge, truthful it's nice. You tin usage it for anything."

Deano said if they can't find an alternate abstraction that's affordable, past won't beryllium capable to supply creation classes.

A nonaccomplishment to the arts community

"It's thing abbreviated of devastating," said Ryan Gray, a freelance creator who works with Ghost River Theatre.

"When we were rehearsing present past month, we were present doubly a week during daytime hours and this spot was ever buzzing. 

"I would spot each ages from babies to seniors, radical with disabilities oregon peculiar needs and a spot of everything: creation classes, yoga, presentations, rehearsals, singing lessons. There was ever thing going on."

Gray remembers Evergreen Theatre touring productions backmost erstwhile helium was successful simple school. Now, helium and his colleagues trust connected the abstraction for rehearsals.

"There's a existent drastic shortage of rehearsal abstraction successful Calgary for artists, and particularly affordable abstraction for emerging artists and indie companies," helium said.

Shona Robinson brings her homeschooled children to the Evergreen installation for creation classes, and said losing the space is truly unfortunate.

"Even the gathering itself, it's been made for this reason," she said. "And whether they're gonna rip that retired oregon something, that's conscionable truly sad.

"A spot that makes it truthful accessible to beryllium capable to creation and each these antithetic arts. There's not galore places successful the metropolis similar that astatine all, oregon it's similar those private-owned places but not a assemblage space."

After years of serving the community, Fraser said he's arrogant of the enactment Evergreen accomplished. 

"We were astir for 10 years [at the existent assemblage space], positive the clip with the different spaces. So we've got thing to beryllium ashamed of."